Yangon Inviting Foreign Investors to Help Provide Low-Cost Housing

The Yangon Regional Government will implement low-cost housing for people who do not have a home; individuals in this situation will only need to pay for the apartment, not the land.

U Phyo Min Thein, Chief Minister of Yangon, said that the Regional Government will invite foreign investments in the projects. The Ministry of Construction and the Yangon City Development Committee are working together to provide lands for the project in six months.

He added: “The reason why we invite foreign investments is that local investors can only make investments on terms of five to eight years. This means that the amounts of the installment payments are higher, and the buyers would find it difficult to make the necessary payments with their income. Therefore, we are inviting investors who can work on terms of 15-20 years.”

The government will sell the low-cost housing, when finished, to squatters in Yangon – especially women. U Phyo Min Thein vowed to ensure that no apartments are rented to drug dealers or gamblers.

Through this project, the Yangon Regional Government is hoping to reduce the number of squatters in the city. People will be able to buy apartments on installments payment plans. The government is working alongside Women For The World (WFW), an NGO based in Yangon, Myanmar, in developing the project.

Currently, there over 150,000 squatters in Yangon Region. Most of them are internal migrants from Ayeyarwaddy, Magway, and Bago Regions, and from Rakhine State.